Advertisement touting the Rolland Company’s wartime involvement, 1944

This ad was part of a campaign designed to show the importance of paper during the war, and illustrate the company’s involvement. Their slogan, “De la production jusqu’au front, le papier combat au cœur de la mêlée” (“From production to the front, paper is at the heart of the battle”), recurs in each ad.

In 1944, under the federal-provincial war work training plan, a plant school was run at Rolland Company. Run by the Youth Aid Service in cooperation with the War Emergency Training program, the program was established to support businesses with workforce training. Students trained at the Saint-Jérôme plant were assigned to the finishing department, including paper inspection. In March of that year, 85 women and 18 men enrolled at the school.

Transcription :

[Translation]

With a little more time, the rags bleached in the digester will become strong, resistant paper, ready to be used for order sheets, operational plans, requisitions, briefs, the military documents of all types the invasion requires, stabbing at the enemy’s heart. Rolland papers, and paper from other Canadian papermakers, have served the war effort since the fighting began. From production to the front, paper is at the heart of the battle. Use it carefully, and save your scraps.